Distribution: Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.

Habitat: Fields, roadsides, wastelots, and other disturbed areas.

Flowers: June-August

Origin: Introduced from the Mediterranean region

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Wind

Glabrous annuals, the culms to 2 m. tall in some varieties, hollow.

Sheaths open; ligules 2-4 mm. long, puberulent, obtuse; blades 3-10 mm. broad, smooth or scabrous.

Inflorescence a large, open panicle, the spikelets pendulous; spikelets usually 2-flowered, the rachilla firm, not readily disarticulating; glumes 20-25 mm. long, subequal, exceeding the florets; lemmas hardened, thickened, greenish, smooth to above midlength and prominently veined above, glabrous, entire at the tip, the callus usually naked; awn lacking on the second floret, attached about the middle of the first floret, nearly straight, up to 15 mm. long; lodicules linear, 1.8 mm. long.

Utricle